Racing Again!

First off, Stacey created a blog to serve as a scrap book for hikes, trips, and other things we do that I don't post. See that here: staceyandevanmacfarlane.blogspot.com

Now on with the theme for this post: I signed up for the Silver Rush 50 mountain bike race and -- the very next day and on the same course -- the Silver Rush 50 run. Together, these races are known as the Silver King. I selected this race for two main reasons. I want to continue riding and running, so I wanted a race that required both. Also, the more time I can spend in the mountains, the better. The Silver King fits both these requirements. (The downside is that I need to learn how to handle a mountain bike.)

I signed up just about 10 days ago, so I've only got about 7 weeks to train. My plan is to fit one long run (starting at a bit over 3 hours and building to 4 or 4.5 hours) in each week, to mountain bike as much as possible, and to run as much as my recovery allows. So far I'm happy with how things are going. Probably the component I'm missing the most right now is a weekly long ride.

Today I actually made it up to Leadville to test ride part of the course. It went well, mainly because the first half of the course is not the least bit technical. See my ride here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/184172143

A very steep climb starts the race:

Not much to look at:

The first half of the course is mostly easy riding...

...although the route climbs fairly high. It took me up in between those two peaks, then up a short climb to the road at the upper left of the next picture.

Mining remnants are plentiful in this area:

Yawn:

A very smooth descent. I yelloed "WEEEEE!" all the way down:

But then I had to climb back up that descent:

I'll have to make it back to Leadville to ride the rest of the course in early July, if not earlier.